The Farm CPA

Paul is now part of the fourth generation in America that is involved in farming and hopes the next generation will be involved also. Through his blog he provides analysis and insight to farmer tax questions.

Mainstreet Index Still Remains Robust

May 09, 2013

Creighton University produces a monthly index called the Rural Mainsteet Index (RMI) indicating the overall economy for several rural states in the Midwest and Mountain states. The May Index was recently released and I thought this month I would recap the index for each of the states covered.

Any value greater than 50 indicates economic growth. The Index values by state are as follows:

Colorado - 73.1 down from a strong 75.2 in the previous month

Illinois - 56.7 down slightly from 56.9

Iowa - 62.3 an almost 3 point dip from 65.2

Kansas - 61.8 a full 9 points higher than an almost neutral 52.8 reading

Minnesota - 66.7 almost no change from 66.8

Missouri - 71.7 a substantial increase from 56.3

Nebraska - 57.3 up from 54.9. In January the index was actually under 50

North Dakota - 78.8, as would be expected this state has the highest index reading (shale oil and low unemployment will do that)

South Dakota - 57.2 a small decrease from 58.8

Wyoming - 55.1 a good increase from 52.8

Many of the states farmland indexes appear to be having more swings both up and down versus a more sustained increase in several previous months. Are we seeing a crest in land prices (leading to a dip) or is this just the start of the next wave. We shall see.